Association functionality in a mobile monitoring device for continual remote monitoring of a condition

ABSTRACT

A mobile monitoring device for continual remote monitoring of a condition is provided. The device includes a sensor module for monitoring the condition and producing sensor module data relating to the condition. A first transceiver component receives network manager data from a local network manager and may transmit sensor module data to the network manager for remote monitoring by a server. An associator component compares the network manager data with the sensor module data. If they approximate each other, an association with the local network manager is established, during which geographical location data of the local network manager is included in the network manager data. The association is dissolved if the network manager data no longer approximates the sensor module data, after which an inertial navigation component incrementally estimates a geographical location of the monitoring device using the previously received geographical location data and subsequent sensor module inertial navigation data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/632,347,filed on Feb. 26, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure relates to monitoring devices and systems and methodsrelating thereto. In particular, although not exclusively, thedisclosure relates to monitoring devices for remotely monitoringconditions to which an object is exposed.

BACKGROUND TO THE DISCLOSURE

There are currently various solutions for monitoring, tracking andidentifying machinery, equipment or objects. These solutions may bereferred to as machine-to-machine (or M2M) applications and may includemonitoring devices that monitor a condition and communicate sensormodule data to a remote server computer.

For example, these monitoring devices that communicate sensor moduledata to a server computer may include one or more sensors with which anenvironmental condition such as ambient temperature, or barometricpressure, and a physical condition such as acceleration and vibrationcan be monitored. Such monitoring devices can make use of either wiredor wireless communications.

Typically, wired devices are too limited and restrictive for M2Mapplications, especially where the equipment or object is not in a fixedlocation. Therefore stand-alone data loggers and wireless mobilemonitoring devices may be more appropriate for M2M solutions.

There are currently several wireless solutions by which mobilemonitoring devices can transmit sensor module data such as temperatureand harsh handling data to a server computer. Some wireless solutionsmay use the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bandwidths.Exemplary solutions include active radio-frequency identification(RFID); Wi-Fi; Bluetooth™; Zigbee™; cellular networks; and otherproprietary networks.

Whilst most of the wireless protocols mentioned above may be known, andmay be successfully used for certain communication solutions, they alonemay not provide sufficient capabilities that are desirable for verylarge mobile M2M solutions.

RFID and Bluetooth, for example, both typically have a short radio rangewhich may limit the M2M network coverage area, and whilst Wi-Fi,Bluetooth™ and Zigbee™ may provide mesh network functionality and mayuse the license-free ISM band-width, they may not be suitably scalable,potentially providing only limited functionalities for very large M2Mnetworks.

Furthermore, although cellular communication networks exist in manyparts of the world, there is currently no convenient and/or costeffective method of permitting multiple M2M monitoring devices to movebetween various countries while communicating using cellularcommunication networks. This may either limit the use of monitoringdevices to certain countries, or may dramatically increase the cost ofdeploying monitoring devices across various countries.

Furthermore, due to the relatively high power consumption associatedwith cellular communications, the battery life of these M2M monitoringdevices may be limited. This can require that such monitoring devices betaken out of service in order for the batteries to be replaced orrecharged.

The above-noted problems may become restrictive and can be significantlyexasperated when thousands, or tens of thousands of M2M monitoringdevices are deployed.

There is accordingly a need for a solution which alleviates these and/orother problems, at least to some extent.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In accordance with the disclosure there is provided a mobile monitoringdevice for monitoring a condition to which an object is exposed as itmoves between multiple wireless local area networks, each of which atleast including one or more mobile or fixed network managers, whereinthe monitoring device is configured to dynamically join a network with anetwork manager which is local to the monitoring device, the mobilemonitoring device comprising: a sensor module for monitoring thecondition and periodically producing sensor module data relating to thecondition, wherein the sensor module data includes inertial navigationdata; a first transceiver component for receiving network manager datafrom the local network manager; an associator component for comparingthe network manager data with the sensor module data and, if the networkmanager data equals or approximates the sensor module data, establishingan association with the local network manager, during which associationgeographical location data of the local network manager is included inthe network manager data and for, if the network manager data does notapproximate the sensor module data and if an association with the localnetwork manager is established, dissolving the association with thelocal network manager; and, an inertial navigation component for,responsive to the associator component dissolving the association,incrementally estimating a geographical location of the monitoringdevice using, as an initial set-point, the geographical location data ofthe local network manager received immediately prior to the associationbeing dissolved and the subsequent inertial navigation data produced bythe sensor module of the monitoring device.

Further features provide for the received network manager data furtherto include inertial navigation data of the local network manager, andfor the associator component to compare at least part of the inertialnavigation data produced by the sensor module with at least part of theinertial navigation data received from the local network manager.

Still further features provide for establishing the association toindicate that the monitoring device and local network manager have movedin unison and are on a common platform; for the monitoring device to beconfigured to remain in the network of the local associated networkmanager after dissolving the association whilst it is within wirelessrange; for the first transceiver component to be configured to receivenetwork manager data from the local network manager via the network, forthe first transceiver component to be further configured to transmitsensor module data to the local network manager via the network; for themonitoring device to be configured to transmit sensor module data to thelocal network manager after dissolving the association; for themonitoring device to include a power source and for the sensor module tobe permanently activated for continual monitoring of the condition; andfor the sensor module data to be accessible for remote monitoring by aserver computer via the local network manager.

A yet further feature provides for the monitoring device to be aportable mobile monitoring device.

Further features provide for the inertial navigation data to includemagnetometer, angular rate, gravitational and acceleration sensor data;for the sensor module data further to include one or more of the groupof: vibration; temperature; barometric pressure, humidity, luminousintensity, and a measure of time; and for the network manager datafurther to include one or more of the group of: a data transmitpermission indication; a network identifier; a network manager type;clock synchronization data; wireless frequency channel data, forwithholding the data transmit permission indication to prevent themonitoring device from transmitting sensor module data.

Further features provide for the monitoring device to include adetecting component for detecting an event; for the event to be one ormore of the group including: the sensor module data exceeding acorresponding condition threshold, receiving an instruction from thelocal network manager to transmit sensor module data to the localnetwork manager, and a reporting frequency event; for the monitoringdevice to include a determining component for, if an event is detectedand if the network manager data includes a data transmit permissionindication, determining an optimal data path to the local networkmanager, for the optimal data path to be either via one or more othermonitoring devices or directly between the monitoring device and localnetwork manager; for the first transceiver component to transmit sensormodule data to the local network manager via the optimal data pathresponsive to the detecting component detecting an event and if thenetwork manager data includes a data transmit permission indication.

Yet further features provides for the monitoring device to furtherinclude a digital memory for storing one or more of the group of:network manager data; a configurable parameter; and sensor module data,and associator data; and for the configurable parameter to include oneor more of the group of: a synchronisation parameter; a conditionthreshold; configuration data; and a reporting frequency.

Still further feature provide for the first transceiver component to usethe received network manager data to establish a peer-to-peer networkwith the local network manager; and for the first transceiver componentto include configuration parameters in each packet of data transmittedto the local network manager.

A further feature provides for the monitoring device to further includean encryption component for encrypting the sensor module data.

Yet further features provide for the monitoring device to furtherinclude a secondary radio frequency transceiver and a secondarytransceiver component for receiving a request to transmit sensor moduledata from a secondary device via a short-range communication linkprovided by the second radio frequency transceiver and for, responsiveto receiving the request, transmitting sensor module data to thesecondary device via the short-range communication link.

Still further features provide for at least some of the data relating toa condition produced by the sensor module to be raw data; for the sensordata component to also be for receiving the raw data from the sensormodule; for the monitoring device to further include a processingcomponent for processing at least some of the received raw data andproducing processed sensor module data; for the sensor module data toinclude processed sensor module data; and for the processed sensormodule data to include one or more of the group of: direction,orientation, rotation, velocity, distance moved, distance dropped, forceof impact, location and vibration.

The associator component may continually compare the network managerdata with the sensor module data.

The first transceiver component may be configured to transmit sensormodule data to the local network manager according to a specifiedreporting frequency.

Further features provide for the monitoring device to be configured toreceive user input from a user via a short-range communication link or akeypad; for the monitoring device to be configured to output sensormodule data to the user via the short-range communication link or adisplay screen; for the user input to include an instruction to outputsensor module data; and for the sensor module data to be output to theuser via the short-range communication link or the display screen inresponse to receiving the instruction.

The disclosure extends to a system for monitoring a condition to whichan object is exposed, the system comprising a plurality of monitoringdevices as described above, and a plurality of networks, wherein eachone of the networks includes one or more network managers, each networkmanager including a first transceiver component for transmitting networkmanager data to the monitoring devices, and wherein each monitoringdevice is operable to dynamically join or establish a network with anetwork manager, being local to the monitoring device, as it moves fromone local network to another.

The disclosure extends to a method for monitoring a condition to whichan object is exposed, the method being conducted by a mobile monitoringdevice having a sensor module which monitors the condition andperiodically produces sensor module data as the monitoring device movesbetween multiple wireless local area networks, each of which at leastincluding one or more mobile or fixed network managers, wherein themonitoring device is configured to dynamically join a network with anetwork manager which is local to the monitoring device, the methodcomprising: receiving sensor module data from the sensor module, thesensor module data including inertial navigation data; receiving networkmanager data from the local network manager; comparing the networkmanager data with the sensor module data; if the network manager dataequals or approximates the sensor module data, establishing anassociation with the local network manager, during which associationgeographical location data of the local network manager is included inthe network manager data and, if the network manager data does notapproximate the sensor module data and if an association with the localnetwork manager is established, dissolving the association with thelocal network manager; and, responsive to dissolving the association,incrementally estimating a geographical location of the monitoringdevice using, as an initial set-point, the geographical location data ofthe local network manager received immediately prior to the associationbeing dissolved and the subsequent inertial navigation data produced bythe sensor module of the monitoring device.

Further features provide for the received network manager data furtherto include inertial navigation data of the local network manager, andfor the step of comparing the network manager data with the sensormodule data to compare at least part of the inertial navigation dataproduced by the sensor module with at least part of the inertialnavigation data received from the local network manager.

Still further features provide for establishing the association toindicate that the monitoring device and local network manager have movedin unison and are on a common platform; for the monitoring device toremain in the network of the local network manager after dissolving theassociation; for the network manager data to be received from the localnetwork manager via the network; for the method to include transmittingsensor module data to the local network manager via the network; and forthe method to include transmitting sensor module data to the localnetwork manager after dissolving the association.

Yet further features provide for the method to include determining fromthe inertial navigation data produced by the sensor module that themonitoring device is stationary and, responsive thereto, storing theestimated geographical location of the monitoring device.

Still further features provide for the method to include a step ofdetecting an event including one or more of the group of: the sensormodule data exceeding a corresponding condition threshold, receiving aninstruction from the local network manager to transmit sensor moduledata to the local network manager, and a reporting frequency event; and,if an event is detected and if the network manager data includes a datatransmit permission indication, determining an optimal data path to alocal network manager and transmitting sensor module data to the localnetwork manager via the optimal data path.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure there is provided asystem for monitoring a condition to which an object is exposed,comprising a mobile monitoring device, a local network manager local tothe monitoring device and a remotely accessible server,

-   -   wherein the monitoring device includes:        -   a digital memory having at least one configurable parameter            stored therein;        -   a sensor module for monitoring the condition and            periodically producing sensor module data relating to the            condition; and,        -   a microcontroller including:            -   a sensor data component for receiving the sensor module                data from the sensor module;            -   a detecting component for detecting an event;            -   a determining component for, if an event is detected,                determining an optimal data path to the local network                manager; and,            -   a first transceiver component for transmitting sensor                module data to the local network manager via the optimal                data path;    -   wherein the local network manager includes:        -   a first transceiver component for receiving sensor module            data from the monitoring device via the optimal data path;            and,        -   a communication component for transmitting received sensor            module data to the server;    -   and wherein the remotely accessible server includes:        -   a communication component for receiving sensor module data            from the local network manager.

Further features provide for the local network manager to furtherinclude a geographical location monitoring component for monitoring ageographical location of the local network manager; for the firsttransceiver component of the local network manager to be furtherconfigured for transmitting, to the monitoring device via an optimaldata path, geographical location data of the local network manager; andfor the geographical location monitoring component to be one or more ofthe group including: a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, aGLONASS receiver, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)receiver.

Yet further features provide for the remotely accessible server toinclude a configuration receiving component for receiving configurationdata; for the configuration data to include updates to the at least oneconfigurable parameter; and for the communication component of theremotely accessible server to be further configured for transmitting theconfiguration data to the monitoring device via the local networkmanager and the optimal data path.

Still further features provide for the first transceiver components ofthe monitoring device and local network manager to be low-power wirelessradios which may be configured for low-rate wireless local areanetworking. The transceiver component may use the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 communicationstandard, and may operate with a carrier frequency within the 2.4 GHzIndustrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band.

The communication component of the local network manager and theremotely accessible server may provide a wired or wireless communicationlink.

In embodiments of the disclosure the system may include a plurality ofmonitoring devices configured to establish a peer-to-peer ad hoc networkvia which each one of the plurality of monitoring devices maycommunicate with the local network manager. Each one of the plurality ofmonitoring devices may be configured to dynamically join thepeer-to-peer ad hoc network and the first transceiver component of eachone of the plurality of monitoring devices may be configured fortransmitting sensor module data to and receiving sensor module data fromanother monitoring device in the peer-to-peer ad hoc network. Each oneof the plurality of monitoring devices in the peer-to-peer ad hocnetwork may in turn be configured to identify a data path to the localnetwork manager, wherein a data path from one monitoring device to thenetwork manager is either via one or more other monitoring devices ordirectly between the monitoring device and local network manager, andwherein an upstream monitoring device is a monitoring device from whicha particular monitoring device receives sensor module data and adownstream monitoring device is a monitoring device to which aparticular monitoring device transmits sensor module data.

Further features of embodiments of the system provide for the optimaldata path to be one or more of the group including: a data path from aparticular monitoring device to the local network manager whichminimizes the number of other monitoring devices via which the sensormodule data must be transmitted; an idle data path from a particularmonitoring device to the local network manager; and a data path from aparticular monitoring device to the local network manager which bestutilizes signal strength of other monitoring devices via which thesensor module data must be transmitted.

Still further features provide for the system to include a plurality oflocal network managers, in which case the determining component of eachof the plurality of monitoring devices may be further configured todetermine an optimal data path to a local network manager being one orboth of the closest local network manager or the closest active localnetwork manager; for the sensor module data to include one or both ofsensor module data of a particular monitoring device and sensor moduledata of one or more upstream devices; for each one of the plurality oflocal network managers to further include a backhaul transceiver, whichmay be a wireless radio configured for low-rate wireless local areanetworking; for the backhaul transceiver component to use the Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 communicationstandard; for the backhaul transceiver component to operate with acarrier frequency of between 800 and 950 MHz; and for the system tofurther include one or more repeater devices, each of which may include:a first transceiver component for receiving sensor module data from theplurality of monitoring devices and a backhaul transceiver component fortransmitting sensor module data to one of the plurality of local networkmanagers.

Yet further features provide for the backhaul transceiver component ofeach one of the one or more repeater devices to be further configured totransmit sensor module data to one or more other repeater devices or oneor more of the plurality of local network managers; for each one of theplurality of the local network managers to be located in either a fixedor a mobile location; for local network managers in fixed locations tobe located in one or more of the group including: warehouses,manufacturing facilities, marshalling yards, sea-ports, airports andcustoms border posts; for the local network managers in mobile locationsto be fitted in one or more of the group including: ships, trains,aircraft, delivery trucks, trailers, and intermodal containers.

Various embodiments will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram which illustrates a system which includesa plurality of monitoring devices, a plurality of network managers, anda remotely accessible IoT platform;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram which illustrates an exemplary systemwhich includes a secondary device and a number of monitoring devices;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram which illustrates an exemplary systemaccording to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3A is a flow diagram which illustrates an exemplary methodaccording to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3B is a flow diagram which illustrates additional steps of themethod illustrated in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 3C is a flow diagram which illustrates another exemplary methodconducted at a monitoring device;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram which illustrates a monitoring deviceaccording to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram which illustrates a monitoring deviceaccording to embodiments of the disclosure which is connected to acomputing device;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram which illustrates a monitoring deviceaccording to embodiments of the disclosure which has a probe hub and aplurality of sensor probes connected thereto;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram which illustrates an exemplary computingdevice in which various aspects of the disclosure may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Mobile machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless monitoring devices that arecapable of monitoring one or more conditions and which can form apeer-to-peer wireless sensor network (WSN) with other monitoring devicesare described herein. The monitoring devices transmit sensor module datain a peer-to-peer ad hoc network to a network manager which isconfigured to forward the sensor module data to an Internet-basedremotely accessible “Internet of Things” (IoT) platform, where the datais retrievable by selected users.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram which illustrates an exemplary system(100) according to one embodiment. The system (100) includes a pluralityof monitoring devices (110), a plurality of network managers (130) and aremotely accessible IoT platform (150).

Each monitoring device (110) is configured to monitor one or moreconditions, for example, using a sensor module which produces sensormodule data related to the one or more conditions. The conditionsmonitored are typically environmental or physical conditions associatedwith the environment in which the monitoring device (110) finds itself.The conditions may, for example, be rotation, gravity acceleration,vibration, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, magnetic field,luminous intensity, and a measure of time.

Each monitoring device (110) is configured to transmit sensor moduledata to a network manager (130) and is uniquely identifiable by a 64-bitidentification number. In some embodiments, the identification numbermay be graphically rendered as a barcode which may be displayed on adisplay screen of the monitoring device (110). As such, the monitoringdevice may be configured to monitor, record, transmit and display theenvironmental and physical status of an object with which it isassociated.

The monitoring devices (110) are attached to, embedded in, or fastenedto or otherwise closely associated with objects. Exemplary objectsinclude, amongst others, containers, pallets, boxes, etc. for thetransportation of goods, cold supply chain goods, fast moving consumergoods and the like; goods such as pharmaceuticals, fruit, flowers,frozen foods, transplant organs, hazardous materials, passenger baggage,confidential documents, valuable artifacts such as paintings or othersensitive artworks, jewelry, products and the like; vending machines;earth moving equipment; military equipment; smart meters forelectricity, water and gas supplies; air-conditioning systems;pipelines; intermodal containers on ships or at custom border posts, andthe like.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1A, each one of the networkmanagers (130) is associated with a truck (202), a warehouse (204) andan aircraft (206) respectively. For example, a mobile network manager(130) may be fitted in a cargo area or container of the truck (202) andreceive electrical power from an electrical power system of the truck(202), or from the built-in battery of the network manager. Similarly,one or more fixed network managers (130) may be fitted in a warehouse(204), receiving electrical power from electrical power systems of thewarehouse (204), or a back-up battery of the manager. Embodimentsanticipate fixed network managers (130) being installed in warehouses,receiving or shipping docks, marshalling yards, manufacturing plants,border control posts and oil rigs to name but a few. Similarly,embodiments provide for mobile network managers to be secured to orinside moving equipment such as rail road cars, transport trailers,delivery trucks, ships, aircraft, intermodal containers and the like.

Each network manager (130) is in communication with the IoT platform(150) via a communication component (134) and the communication network(208). The communication network (208) may be any appropriatecommunication network including, for example, the Internet, a virtualprivate network (VPN), a personal area network (PAN), a local areanetwork (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a cellular communication network,a satellite communication network, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB or the like.

The monitoring devices (110) are configured to establish a peer-to-peerad hoc network among themselves via which each one of the plurality ofmonitoring devices (110) may communicate with a network manager (130). Apeer-to-peer ad hoc network (210) established between monitoring devicesin the warehouse (204) is illustrated in FIG. 1A. The monitoring devices(110) in the warehouse (204) may communicate with the fixed networkmanager (130) of the warehouse (204) via the peer-to-peer ad hoc network(210). Similar peer-to-peer ad hoc networks are established by themonitoring devices (110) in the truck (202) and the aircraft (206)respectively via which the monitoring devices may communicate with themobile network managers. In some embodiments, a peer-to-peer ad hocnetwork may only be established by a monitoring device (110) in responseto the monitoring device detecting that an event has occurred.

Each one of the plurality of monitoring devices (110) is configured todynamically join a peer-to-peer ad hoc network (e.g. 210). For example,as goods to which a monitoring device (e.g. 110.1) is attached areunloaded from the truck (202) into the warehouse (204), the monitoringdevice (110.1) attached to those goods is configured to dynamically jointhe peer-to-peer ad hoc network (210) established between the monitoringdevices (110) in the warehouse (204) such that the monitoring device(110.1) is able to communicate with the IoT platform (150) via the fixednetwork manager (130) of the warehouse (204).

The goods to which the monitoring device (e.g. 110.1) is attached maythen be loaded from the warehouse (204) into the aircraft (206) and maythus dynamically join a peer-to-peer ad hoc network (212) establishedbetween the monitoring devices (110) in the aircraft (206) such that themonitoring device (110.1) is able to communicate with the IoT platform(150) via the mobile network manager (130) of the aircraft (206). Insome cases, the local network manager may prohibit monitoring devicesfrom transmitting sensor module data, for example by withholding apermission to transmit indication when the monitoring devices are in anaircraft. This may ensure compliance with relevant aviation rulesprohibiting the use of certain transmitters during flight, and so on.

Accordingly, each monitoring device (110) is provided with a firsttransceiver component for transmitting sensor module data to andreceiving sensor module data from other monitoring devices in thepeer-to-peer ad hoc network (210). Each one of the plurality ofmonitoring devices (110) in the peer-to-peer ad hoc network (210) isconfigured to identify a data path to a network manager (130) which maybe via one or more other monitoring devices (110), or directly from themonitoring device (110) to the network manager (130).

An upstream monitoring device is defined as a monitoring device fromwhich a particular monitoring device receives sensor module data while adownstream monitoring device is defined as a monitoring device to whicha particular monitoring device transmits sensor module data. As such,sensor module data transmitted from a monitoring device (110) includesone or both of: sensor module data of that particular monitoring deviceand sensor module data of one or more upstream devices.

FIG. 1A illustrates an optimal data path (dashed line) which isdetermined by a determining component of a particular monitoring device(110.1) in the warehouse (204). What exactly constitutes an optimal datapath may be determined by a variety of factors including relativeposition and orientation of a monitoring device to other monitoringdevices or a local network manager, residual power of a monitoringdevice and operational requirements of the overall system to name but afew. The optimal data path may also be a data path from the particularmonitoring device (110.1) to the network manager (130) which minimizesthe number of other monitoring devices (110) via which the sensor moduledata must be transmitted, an idle data path from the particularmonitoring device (110.1) to a network manager (130) or a data path fromthe particular monitoring device (110.1) to the network manager (130)which best utilizes signal strength of other monitoring devices (110)via which the sensor module data must be transmitted, to name but three.While only the optimal data path of one monitoring device (110.1) isillustrated, it should be noted that each one of the plurality ofmonitoring devices (110) is configured to determine its own optimal datapath to the network manager (130).

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1A, the aircraft (206) includes alocal repeater device (160). The local repeater device (160) isconfigured to receive sensor module data from monitoring devices (e.g.110.2, 110.3) which are isolated from both the network manager (130) ofthe aircraft (206) and the peer-to-peer ad hoc network (212) establishedbetween the other monitoring devices (110) in the aircraft and thenetwork manager (130). The local repeater device (160) is furtherconfigured to transmit the received sensor module data to the mobilenetwork manager (130) of the aircraft (206). In the illustratedembodiment, the local repeater device (160) transmits the sensor moduledata to the mobile network manager (130) of the aircraft (206) using thebackhaul transceiver components (138) of the local repeater device (160)and mobile network manager (130) respectively. The backhaul transceivercomponent may enable the local repeater device (160) to communicate withthe mobile network manager over a longer range.

The sensor module data is transmitted to the IoT platform (150) via thenetwork managers (130) and the communication network (208). Oncereceived and compiled at the IoT platform, a user (280) may then use acomputing device (282) to view the sensor module data or a selectedsubset of the sensor module data that is stored on the IoT platform(150).

The IoT platform (150) may be any appropriate server computer platformand its functions are to, amongst others, configure parameters andsensor threshold limits for monitoring devices (110), to receive sensormodule data from monitoring devices (110) via network managers (130),and to provide information, reports of conformity and shipping detailsto a user (280). During the transit process of an object that isassociated with a monitoring device (e.g. 110.1), should an event bedetected (such as a condition threshold being exceeded), the monitoringdevice (110.1) transmits an alert message via the network manager (130)to the IoT platform (150), after which a short messaging service (SMS)message, email or other appropriate message may be transmitted to a user(280).

Although the monitoring devices (110) may be configured to monitor andrecord all sensor data continuously or periodically, all sensor moduledata may be unnecessary until an event is detected. An event can be anyone or more of a number of environmental or physical conditions, but forthe sake of this example it may include the monitored conditionexceeding a threshold set for the condition, receiving an instructionfrom the local network manager to transmit sensor module data to thelocal network manager, receiving an instruction from the remotelyaccessible IoT platform to transmit sensor module data to the remotelyaccessible IoT platform or a combination or variations of these.

In an attempt to extend the battery life of the monitoring device (110),the user (280) may specify a reporting frequency (without exceptionalerts), such as 10 minutes, 30 minutes, hourly, 6 hourly or the like,whereby the monitoring device transmits the sensor module data to thenetwork manager at these specified times. However, sensor module datamay continue to be logged on the device and may not be dependent on thereporting interval. At any time during a shipment process, or once thetransit of the object is completed, the user (280) is able to accessselected data for audit purposes and print a certificate of conformityin accordance to the specified recording intervals. However, should theuser (280) observe any discrepancy that occurred during transit of theitem, the user (280) will be able to retrieve all the detailed sensormodule data on, for example, a second-by-second basis from themonitoring device (110) via the IoT platform (150), provided themonitoring device (110) is within range of a network manager (130).

The user (280) may be any user of the system (100). In some embodiments,the user (280) may include different users acting in differentcapacities. For example and where applicable, users may include customsborder officials, persons receiving the object, persons responsible forthe upkeep of the object, persons transporting the object, personsmaintaining or operating the system (100) and the like. Different usersmay be able to perform different functions and view different dataaccording to capacities in which they act.

By providing a plurality of network managers (130) at various pointsalong an object's transit route, the described systems and devicesprovide a monitoring device (110) which can continuously or periodicallymonitor a condition to produce sensor module data which can then betransmitted to the IoT platform (150) via an appropriate network manager(130).

As the monitoring devices (110) communicate with the IoT platform (150)via network managers (130), the use of expensive communication linkssuch as cellular or satellite communication links may be kept to aminimum. In cases where the network managers are fixed in location, thelocal network managers may be able to communicate with the IoT platformvia, for example the Internet. Alternatively, mobile network managerssuch as those which are provided in the aircraft (206) or the truck(204) may require use of wide area network (WAN) connections such asWi-Fi, cellular or satellite communication links. However, when aplurality of monitoring devices (110) communicate through a singlemobile network manager, the expense of cellular or satellitecommunication links in these instances may be reduced because the datafrom many monitoring devices may be batched into a single cellulartransmission. Naturally the monitoring information received by thenetwork managers (130) from the monitoring devices (110) may be batchedand transmitted to the IoT platform (150) together. This may alleviateadditional costs associated with the establishment of communicationsessions between the network managers (130) and IoT platform (150).

Furthermore, the monitoring devices may have to operate in variousdifferent countries as they travel from their source to theirdestination. As cellular communication network standards may vary fromone country to the next, providing a monitoring device which is able tocommunicate over a cellular communication link in a plurality ofdifferent countries may be a difficult and costly exercise. By providingfixed network managers in different countries via which the monitoringdevices communicate with the IoT platform, these complications and costsmay be alleviated.

The system described herein thus enables a plurality of monitoringdevices to move between, and associate with or join, multiple localnetworks, without human intervention, as they move from one location tothe next. Each local network can include multiple repeaters and multiplemobile or fixed network managers and can be situated at any geographicallocation in the world.

The local networks may enable the monitoring devices to communicate withthe IoT platform or other appropriate server computers, while avoidingincurring high data charges often associated with roamingtelecommunications. The local networks may be maintained by a singleentity or associated group of entities.

The mobile monitoring devices as described herein are further configuredto communicate with a secondary device via a secondary transceivercomponent with a short-range wireless communication link. FIG. 1B is aschematic diagram which illustrates an exemplary system (101) whichincludes a secondary device and a number of monitoring devices (110).The monitoring devices (110) may be in a receiving depot (230), forexample, having been received from truck or an aircraft.

The secondary device (240) may be a smart phone, tablet computer orother appropriate electronic device capable of communicating with themonitoring devices (110) over the short-range communication link andalso with the remotely accessible IoT platform (150). The short-rangecommunication link in this exemplary scenario is a Bluetooth™communication link.

An operator (283) of the secondary device (240) may use the secondarydevice (240) to request sensor module data from one or more of themonitoring devices. The request is transmitted over the Bluetooth™communication link. Responsive to receiving the request, the monitoringdevices (110) transmit sensor module data to the secondary device (240)via the communication link. In this embodiment, the sensor module datais transmitted to the secondary device (240) in a star meshed network.The secondary device (240) may then transmit the received sensor moduledata to the remotely accessible IoT platform (150) via the communicationnetwork (208), from where it can be accessed by other users.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram which illustrates exemplary devices of asystem (200), such as that described above with reference to FIG. 1A or1B. The system (200) includes a mobile monitoring device (110), anetwork manager (130), a remotely accessible IoT platform (150) and alocal repeater device (160).

The monitoring device (110) may include a digital memory (111) forstoring device data. The device data may include one or more of thegroup of: a synchronisation parameter, a condition threshold,configuration data, a reporting frequency and sensor module data. Thedigital memory may also store network manager data received from a localnetwork manager.

The condition threshold may include one or more of: a maximumpermissible acceleration of the product, a minimum and/or maximumtemperature to which the product may be exposed, a minimum and/ormaximum barometric pressure to which the product may be exposed, aminimum and/or maximum humidity to which the product may be exposed, aminimum and maximum luminous intensity to which the product may beexposed, a time interval and the like.

The synchronisation parameter may include a network identifier, date andtime references of the local network manager, local geographicalreferences which may be time stamped acceleration and magnetometeraltitude and heading reference system (AHRS) data and the like.

The configuration data of the monitoring device may include localnetwork forming data, which may include identifiers of available networkmanagers that the monitoring device is capable of communicating with andusable in establishing a local area network (LAN) with the relevantlocal network manager. The configuration data may also include a tableof neighbouring monitoring devices that may be used to form peer-to-peerlinks with other devices to communicate sensor module data and networkmessages.

The monitoring device (110) may further include a sensor module (112)which monitors a condition to which the object is exposed and producesor outputs sensor module data relating to the condition. The sensormodule (112) may include one or more of: an angular rate sensor such asa gyroscope; an accelerometer; a gravitational sensor; a temperaturesensor; a barometer; a humidity sensor; a magnetometer; a digitalluminosity sensor; a clock; and the like. Accordingly, the sensor modulemay monitor conditions including one or more of: rotation, acceleration,vibration, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, magnetic field,luminous intensity, and a measure of time to which the productassociated with the sensor module (112) is exposed. The sensor moduledata output by the sensor module (112) may therefore include actualmeasurements and/or estimates of a condition. In some cases, the dataproduced by the sensor module (112) is raw data which requiresprocessing.

The monitoring device (110) may also include a microcontroller (113).The term “microcontroller” as used herein should be interpreted broadlyand is intended to include any suitable arrangement of circuitryincluding a processor, microprocessor, a field programmable gate array(FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or the like.The various components of the microcontroller (113) may be implementedas software, firmware or, where applicable, as hardware as well as acombination of these.

The microcontroller (113) may provide a sensor data component (114) forreceiving sensor module data from the sensor module (112). For instanceswhere the data received from the sensor module is raw data, themicrocontroller (113) may also provide a processing component (129) forprocessing the received raw data and producing processed sensor moduledata. For the purposes of this description, “sensor module data”includes processed sensor module data. The sensor module data mayinclude one or more of the group of: direction, orientation, rotation,velocity, distance moved, distance dropped, force of impact, locationand vibration, and the like thereof.

A specific portion of sensor module data, referred to as “MARC data”,may include data received from a magnetometer, an angular rate sensor,and a gravitational sensor. In some embodiments, the MARG sensor dataincludes data received from a barometric pressure sensor. MARG sensordata is sensor data which may be used by the monitoring device fortracking its location using inertial navigation techniques.

The microcontroller (113) may also provide a first transceiver component(115) for receiving network manager data from the local network manager(130). The network manager data may include one or more of the group of:a data transmit permission indication; a network identifier; a networkmanager type; clock synchronization data; wireless frequency channeldata; and geographical location data of the local network manager. Thenetwork manager data may further include MARG data of the local networkmanager (130).

The first transceiver component (115) may be configured to use thereceived network manager data and/or device data to establish apeer-to-peer network with the local network manager (130). The firsttransceiver component (115) may include its own configuration parametersin each packet of data transmitted to the network manager (130).

The first transceiver component (115) may further be for, responsive toreceiving a data transmit permission indication and responsive to adetecting component detecting an event, transmitting sensor module datato the local network manager (130). Embodiments provide for the firsttransceiver component to transmit sensor module data for onwardcommunication to the remotely accessible IoT platform without humanintervention. The first transceiver component may also be for, withouthuman intervention, uploading: software code; network configurationparameters; and user configurations and thresholds, via an optimal datapath from a network manager.

The monitoring device (110) may include a first radio frequency (RF)transceiver (116) via which the first transceiver component (115)transmits and receives data. The first transceiver component (115) andfirst RF transceiver (116) may provide a low-power wireless radioconfigured for low-rate wireless local area networking and may make usethe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4communication standard. The carrier frequency utilized by the firsttransceiver component (115) and first RF transceiver (116) is within the2.4 to 2.5 GHz Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The firsttransceiver component (115) and first RF transceiver (116) may furtherutilise a Myconi™ network layer for the peer-to-peer ad hoc wirelesscommunication.

An advantage of using the IEEE 802.15.4 communication standard is thatit is an internationally recognized communication standard which istypically license-free throughout the world. Therefore the monitoringdevices as described herein are able to function worldwide and withreduced or at best no communication-related license fees.

The microcontroller (113) may also provide an associator component (117)for comparing the network manager data with the sensor module data and,if the network manager data approximates the sensor module data,establishing an association with the local network manager (130). Inparticular, the associator component (117) may compare MARG data of themonitoring device to MARG data of the local network manager (130). Thus,the associator component (117) may be able to establish whether or notthe monitoring device (110) is moving in unison with the local networkmanager (130), for example, in an aircraft, truck or the like. Theassociator component (117) may further be for dissolving the associationwith the local network manager if the network manager data no longerapproximates the sensor module data.

In the embodiments described herein, instead of only using MARG sensordata to establish an association with a local network manager andincrementally estimate a geographical location of the monitoring device,“inertial navigation data” may be used. Inertial navigation dataincludes magnetometer, angular rate, gravitational (MARG) andacceleration sensor data.

The microcontroller (113) may further include an inertial navigationcomponent (118) for, responsive to the associator component (117)dissolving the association, incrementally estimating a geographicallocation of the monitoring device (110) using geographical location datareceived from the local network manager (130) prior to the dissolving ofthe association and MARG sensor module data from the magnetometer,angular rate sensor and gravitational sensor.

The microcontroller (113) may include a detecting component (119) fordetecting an event. The event may be one or more of the group including:the sensor module data exceeding a corresponding condition threshold,receiving an instruction from the local network manager to transmitsensor module data to the local network manager, a reporting frequencyevent, and the like.

The microcontroller (113) may also include a determining component (120)for, if an event is detected by the detecting component (119),determining an optimal data path to the local network manager (130) viawhich data may be sent and received. In some cases, the optimal datapath may be via one or more other monitoring devices or alternativelydirectly between the monitoring device and local network manager.

Some embodiments provide for the microcontroller (113) to furtherinclude an encryption component (121) for encrypting device data and/orsensor module data.

It is also anticipated that the microcontroller (113) may furtherinclude an input component (122) for receiving input from a user and anoutput component (123) for outputting data to the user. The inputcomponent (122) may receive user input via an input module (124)provided on the monitoring device (110). Exemplary input modules includea keypad, one or more push buttons, a microphone and the like. Theoutput component (123) may output data to the user via an output module(125) provided on the monitoring device. Exemplary output modulesinclude a display screen, a speaker, a buzzer and the like. The inputreceived from the user may be an instruction to display sensor moduledata. In response to receiving the instruction, the output component(123) may be configured to prompt the user to connect the monitoringdevice to an external power source prior to outputting sensor moduledata on the output module (125). This may ensure that the monitoringdevice does not use unnecessary energy while in the field but caninstead use periods of manual interrogation by a user to at leastpartially recharge its power source.

The microcontroller (113) may also include a secondary transceivercomponent (126) which interfaces with a second RF transceiver (127)provided with the monitoring device (110). The secondary transceivercomponent (126) is for transmitting sensor module data to a secondarydevice via a short-range wireless communication link provided by thesecond RF transceiver. In some embodiments, the secondary transceivercomponent (126) and second RF transceiver (127) may provide a Bluetoothcommunication link between a secondary device and the monitoring deviceover which sensor module data may be transmitted. In other embodiments,the short-range communication link may be a near-field communicationlink or the like.

The monitoring device (110) may further include a data communicationinterface (128) for connecting via a data port one or more of the groupof: a universal serial bus (USB) cable from an external device such as apersonal computer (PC) to manually download the sensor module data;connecting one or more inter-integrated circuit (I2C) sensor probesproviding additional sensors; connecting an RS-232 cable to an externaldevice such as a PC or Wi-Fi router to enable mini-network managerfunctionality; connecting a power source for recharging the battery;providing a power outlet for powering I2C sensor probes. The datacommunication interface (128) is described in greater detail later inthis specification.

As the systems described generally include a plurality of monitoringdevices (110) which will at any given time be in proximity to at leastone network manager (130), the ability of the monitoring device (110) todetermine its position from information provided by the network manager(130) and MARG sensor data alleviates the need for it to be providedwith its own global positioning system (GPS) or similar receiver. Thismay result in significant savings in both the energy requirements of themonitoring device but also its cost of manufacture, as it will not haveto have its own positional hardware or software.

In some embodiments, the monitoring device may further include acommunication component and a geographical position monitoringcomponent, although as described above, this may not be desirable.

As mentioned above, in some embodiments the described system includes aplurality of monitoring devices (110) which are configured to establisha peer-to-peer ad hoc network via which each monitoring device maycommunicate with the network manager (130). The network manager (130)may in turn use Ethernet, USB or Wi-Fi to forward the gathered sensormodule data to the IoT platform (150). However, in remote situationswhere there is no Ethernet or Wi-Fi, or if the network manager (130) isaffixed to a mobile unit such as an aircraft, railcar or deliveryvehicle, the network manager (130) may use either cellular or satellitecommunication to transmit the sensor module data to the IoT platform(150).

Typically, the network manager (130) receives electrical power from anexternal power source and may have a battery for back-up purposes. Insome embodiments, the network manager (130) itself includes a sensormodule for monitoring a condition and producing sensor module data.

The network manager (130) may be configured to manage the peer-to-peerad hoc network and to synchronize with monitoring devices (110) withinthe network as to when the monitoring devices (110) should formpeer-to-peer networks and when the monitoring devices should transmitsensor module data. In some cases the network manager may even includefunctionality enabling it to assist monitoring devices in deciding howto form the peer-to-peer networks and, in some cases, even how tocalculate the optimal route for data transmission. The network manager(130) may also receive the sensor module data, which may be encrypted,from each monitoring device in the network and forwards the encryptedpackets of data to the IoT platform (150).

The network manager (130) includes a first transceiver component (132)for receiving sensor module data from the monitoring devices (110) viathe optimal data path or from a local repeater device (160) via thebackhaul transceiver component. The network manager (130) also includesa communication component (134) for transmitting received sensor moduledata to the remotely accessible IoT platform (150).

The first transceiver component (132) of the local network manager (130)also transmits network manager data, including, for example, the MARGsensor data, the geographical location data of the network manager (130)and network synchronization and configuration parameters to themonitoring device (110). The local network manager may further beconfigured to control transmissions from the monitoring device. Thelocal network manager may include a data transmit permission indicationin the network manager data transmitted to the monitoring device inorder to grant permission to the monitoring device to transmit sensormodule data. Withholding the data transmit permission indication mayprevent the monitoring device from transmitting sensor module data, evenif an event is detected. This is advantageous in scenarios wheremonitoring devices are located in, for example, aircraft, where radiofrequency transmissions are prohibited at certain points.

The first transceiver component (132) of the network manager (130) issimilar to that of the monitoring device (110) and, in the illustratedembodiment, may utilise a wireless radio configured for low-ratewireless local area networking which makes use of the IEEE 802.15.4communication standard. The carrier frequency utilized by the firsttransceiver component (132) is typically within the 2.4 to 2.5 GHz ISMband.

The network manager (130) further includes a geographical locationmonitoring, or positioning component (136) for monitoring or determininga geographical location of the network manager (130). It will beappreciated that the geographical locational monitoring component (136)could include any one or more of a global positioning system (GPS)receiver, a GLONASS receiver, or a global navigation satellite system(GNSS) receiver. In some embodiments, for example where the networkmanager (130) has a fixed location, the geographical locationalmonitoring component (136) may retrieve a stored geographical coordinateof the network manager from a digital memory or database.

The network manager (130) may also include a MARG sensor module (137)for producing MARG sensor data relating to the network manager (130).The MARG sensor module (137) may at least include a magnetometer, anangular rate sensor and a gravitational sensor and the MARG sensor datamay be included in network manager data transmitted to the monitoringdevice (110).

The network manager (130) may further include a backhaul transceivercomponent (138) which may utilise a wireless radio configured forlow-rate wireless local area networking making use of the Institute ofIEEE 802.15.4 communication standard. The backhaul communicationcomponent (138), however, operates with carrier frequencies of 868 MHz,950 to 956 MHz, and 962 to 968 MHz and is for communicating with localrepeater devices (160).

In some embodiments of the disclosure, more than one network manager(130) may be included in a peer-to-peer network. This may provide forredundancy in case one local network manager fails, and it also enablesfor a greater volume of monitored data to pass through the network inthe shortest period of time.

The IoT platform (150) includes a communication component (152) forreceiving sensor module data from one or more networks via networkmanagers (130) and a configuration receiving component (154) forreceiving configuration data. The configuration data may include updatesto the at least one configurable parameter. The communication component(152) of the IoT platform (150) is accordingly also for transmitting theconfiguration data to the monitoring devices (110) via the networkmanager (130) and the optimal data path.

The communication components (134, 152) of the network manager (130) andthe IoT platform (150) may provide any appropriate wired or wirelesscommunication link. Exemplary wireless or wired communication linksinclude Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet, cellular such as (global system for mobilecommunications) GSM, long term evolution (LTE), 3G and the like, as wellas a satellite communication link.

The local repeater device (160) includes a first transceiver component(162) for receiving sensor module data from, and transmitting sensormodule data to, the plurality of monitoring devices (110), and thenetwork managers (130) and, in some embodiments, one or more other localrepeater devices. The local repeater device (160) also includes abackhaul transceiver component (164) for transmitting sensor module datato one or both of the network manager (130) or another local repeaterdevice. The backhaul transceiver component (164) is similar to thebackhaul transceiver component (138) of the network manager.

FIGS. 3A to 3C are flow diagrams which illustrate exemplary methodswhich may be performed by a monitoring device as described herein. Inoperation, the monitoring device is typically secured to or closelyassociated with an object or product in transit.

Firstly regarding FIG. 3A, at an initial stage (302), the monitoringdevice periodically monitors a condition and produces sensor moduledata. As mentioned above, the condition monitored may be rotation,acceleration, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, magneticfield, luminous intensity, and a measure of time amongst others. Thesensor module data produced may include measurements or estimates of thecondition output by a sensor module of the monitoring device. In someembodiments, the monitoring device may encrypt the sensor module data ata next stage (304).

At any time during its deployment, the monitoring device may detect anevent at a following stage (306). As has also already been mentioned theevent may include, amongst others, the monitored condition exceeding thecondition threshold (312), receiving an instruction from the networkmanager to transmit sensor module data to the network manager (308), orreceiving an instruction from the IoT platform to transmit sensor moduledata to the IoT platform (310). If no event is detected the monitoringdevice simply continues monitoring the condition.

In response to detecting an event, the monitoring device may determineat a next stage (314) whether a peer-to-peer ad hoc network includingthe monitoring device has already been established.

For example, as the monitoring device is transported from one locationto another, it may enter the range of an already establishedpeer-to-peer ad hoc network or a network manager. If the monitoringdevice is within range of a peer-to-peer ad hoc network but not alreadypart of such a network, the monitoring device may dynamically join thepeer-to-peer ad hoc network or dynamically establish a peer-to-peer adhoc network with other monitoring devices, as the case may be, at afollowing stage (316). In some cases, in response to joining orestablishing a peer-to-peer ad hoc network, the monitoring device mayreceive, at a next stage (317), sensor module data from an upstreammonitoring device.

If the monitoring device is already associated with a peer-to-peer adhoc network, or once the monitoring device has joined or established apeer-to-peer ad hoc network, the monitoring device determines, at afollowing stage (318), an optimal data path to the network manager. Insome embodiments, the optimal data path may have already been determinedat the time of detecting the event.

In some cases, the method (300) may include a stage (320) of themonitoring device determining whether a data transmit permissionindication has been received from the local network manager. The datatransmit permission indication may be received with other networkmanager data transmitted from the local network manager. The monitoringdevice may, for example, be configured to only send sensor module datato the local network manager when the local network manager hasauthorized it to do so, for example by transmitting a data transmitpermission indication. Where no data transmit permission indication hasbeen received, the monitoring device may be prevented from transmittingsensor module data.

If a data transmit permission has been received, the monitoring devicethen transmits, at a following stage (321), sensor module data to thenetwork manager via the optimal data path for onward transmission to theIoT platform, after which it resumes its monitoring state at the initialstage (302).

Thus, in some cases, by default, the monitoring device does not transmitdata. Only once the monitoring device receives a data transmitpermission indication and other configurations from a network managerwill the monitoring device transmit the sensor module data. If a networkmanager is installed inside an aircraft (or any other location wheretransmitting is forbidden), then the network manager can instruct allmonitoring devices to withhold data transmissions by withholding thedata transmit permission indication until. During this “waiting” period,the monitoring device may periodically receive updating messages(network synchronization etc.) from the network manager, but will nottransmit sensor module data. It is also anticipated that, instead of adata transmit permission indication, the local network manager transmitsa data transmit prohibit indication prohibiting the monitoring devicefrom transmitting data.

FIG. 3B is a flow diagram which illustrates additional steps of themethod (300) described above with reference to FIG. 3A. The additionalsteps of the method (300) are conducted at the monitoring device.

Embodiments of the disclosure also provide that at any stage, themonitoring device may receive, at an initial stage (328), input from auser. The input received from the user may be an instruction to displaysensor module data. In response to receiving such an instruction, themonitoring device is configured to prompt the user at a following stage(330) to connect the monitoring device to an external power source priorto outputting sensor module data. At a next stage (332), the monitoringdevice may output sensor module data to the user via an outputcomponent.

Now referring to FIG. 3C, which is a flow diagram which illustratesanother exemplary method (340) for monitoring a condition to which anobject, typically in transit, is exposed. The method (340) is conductedat a monitoring device and may be conducted together with the method(300) described above with reference to FIG. 3A.

The method (340) includes a stage (342) of receiving sensor module datafrom a sensor module of the monitoring device. The sensor module data isproduced or output by a sensor module of the monitoring device andrelates to one or more conditions monitored by the sensor module. Insome cases, some of the sensor module data may be raw and may requireprocessing. Thus, the method may further include a stage of processingthe received sensor module data to produce processed sensor module data.

At a next stage (344), network manager data may be received from a localnetwork manager. The network manager data received may include a datatransmit permission indication; a network identifier; a network managertype; clock synchronization data; wireless frequency channel data;geographical location data of the local network manager and the like.The network manager data may further include magnetometer, angular rateand gravitational (MARG) sensor data of the local network manager.Receiving network manager data from the local network manager mayinclude receiving network manager data from a plurality of local networkmanagers being within range of the monitoring device.

The received network manager data is then compared with the sensormodule data at a next stage (346). Comparing the network manager datawith the sensor module data may compare magnetometer, angular rate andgravitational (MARG) sensor data included in the network manager dataand sensor module data respectively.

If (348) the network manager data approximates the sensor module data,an association with the local network manager is established at afollowing stage (350). Establishing an association with a local networkmanager may include recording the local network manager as being anassociated local network manager. In some cases, an association flag maybe set so as to indicate that the network manager data of the associatedlocal network manager approximates the sensor module data. In anotherembodiment, an association file may be updated so as to record the localnetwork manager as being an associated local network manager, the filefor example including a network identifier of the associated localnetwork manager.

Matching network manager data and sensor module data may indicate thatthe monitoring device and local network manager are moving in unison,for example, that the monitoring device is in the same truck or aircraftas the local network manager. Associating the monitoring device with thelocal network manager may include a stage of the monitoring devicedynamically joining a peer-to-peer ad hoc network of the local networkmanager. Should the sensor module data not match network manager data ofany local network manager within range, an association will not beformed. However, the monitoring device can nevertheless still form apeer-to-peer ad hoc network with any other network manager that iswithin wireless range, but without the association condition.

The method may include a stage (352) of, while the monitoring device isassociated with the local network manager, receiving geographicallocation data from the local network manager. The geographical locationdata may be received from a geographical location monitoring componentof the local monitoring device, such as a GPS receiver or the like.

During its association with a local network manager, the monitoringdevice continually compares its sensor module data with the networkmanager data of the local network manager. If (348) at some stage it isdetermined that the network manager data no longer approximates thesensor module data, the method includes a step (354) of dissolving theassociation with the local network manager. At a following stage (356),responsive dissolving the association, a geographical location of themonitoring device may be incrementally estimated using the geographicallocation data received from the local network manager as well asmagnetometer, angular rate and gravitational (MARG) sensor data producedby a magnetometer, an angular rate sensor and a gravitational sensor ofthe sensor module. Estimating the geographical location of themonitoring device may use known inertial navigation techniques, using,for example, the geographical location data received from the localnetwork manager immediately prior to the association being dissolved asan initial set-point. Such techniques may enable the monitoring deviceto navigate indoors, where conventional GPS receivers and the like arenot able to operate. Such techniques may further provide advantages inthe form of energy efficiency by obviating the need for a GPS receiveron the monitoring device.

The method may determine from the MARG sensor data that the monitoringdevice is stationary (358) and, if so, the estimated geographicallocation of the monitoring device may be stored in a non-volatile memoryof the monitoring device at a next stage (360). In some cases, this mayinclude transmitting the estimated geographical location to a localnetwork manager as well. This stored estimate may then be used as aninitial set-point for further geographical location estimation shouldthe monitoring device move again.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram which illustrates one embodiment of anexemplary monitoring device (410). The monitoring device is similar tothe monitoring device described above with reference to FIG. 2 andinterfaces, components and modules of each of these monitoring devicesmay be included or interchanged as may be appropriate.

The monitoring device (410) includes a microcontroller (412), a firstseparate NAND flash memory (414) a second separate NAND Flash memory(416), a power source (418) and a data communication interface (420)providing a data port (421).

In one particular embodiment, the microcontroller (412) may be an ARM32-bit Cortex M7 CPU having 1 Mbytes of Flash memory and 320 Kbytes ofSRAM memory, although any other appropriate microcontroller,microprocessor or other arrangement of circuitry may be used. Themicrocontroller (412) may include direct memory access (DMA) controllersand a 96-bit unique identifier (ID). The microcontroller may include: avolatile memory (422) and a non-volatile memory (424); a processor(426); a hardware float co-processor (428); and, an encryption component(430) providing 256-bit AES encryption, safe-key storage for encryptionand anti-tamper encryption key protection. The microcontroller (412)also provides various communication busses (such as, for exampleuniversal serial bus (USB), inter-integrated circuit (I2C), serialperipheral interface (SPI), and RS-232) via which the microcontroller(412) may communicate with one or both of other modules or interfaces ofthe monitoring device (410) and devices external to the monitoringdevice (410).

The non-volatile memory (424) of the microcontroller (412) is used forstoring firmware executable and read only data on the microcontroller(412) and the volatile memory (422) of the microcontroller (412) is usedfor storing temporary data.

The first separate NAND flash memory (414) provides the digital memoryand is used for storing one or more configurable parameters. The secondNAND flash memory (416) stores sensor module data. The NAND flash memorymay also store the resultant calculations of various MARG conditionssuch as magnetometer, accelerometer, gravity and temperature data thatdetermines the geographical location of the device.

The one or both of the first and second NAND flash memory may beremovable, for example in the form of a Secure Digital™ (SD) or otherremovable memory card. The capacity of the NAND flash memory may besufficiently large enough to store a minimum of 6 months of sensormodule and processed sensor module data. The sensor module data andother data may be stored in a B-tree format and may be fully encrypted.

In the present embodiment the power source (418) is a battery but itwill be appreciated that it could include any one or more of a battery,solar panels or cells, kinetic energy harvesting components and a powercontroller. A power management component may also be provided toregulate the power.

The monitoring device (410) includes an input module (434) for receivinginput from a user. In a preferred embodiment, the input module includesa number of buttons while in other embodiments the input module may be akeyboard, touch-sensitive display, microphone, which may selectivelyrecording sounds, or any other appropriate input module. The monitoringdevice (412) further includes an output module (436) for outputting datato the user. The output module (436) may include one or more of thegroup of: display screen; a buzzer component for sounding an alert orstatus change; and light emitting diodes (LED's) for signalling statusconditions, such as battery condition, transmit/receive conditions andheartbeat.

The monitoring device includes a first RF transceiver (438) fortransmitting sensor module data to a network manager. The first RFtransceiver (438) of the illustrated embodiment is a wireless radioconfigured for low-rate wireless local area networking which makes usethe Institute of the IEEE 802.15.4 communication standard. The carrierfrequency utilized by the first RF transceiver (438) is within the 2.4to 2.5 GHz ISM band. The first RF transceiver (438) may also beconfigured for receiving sensor module data from one or more upstreammonitoring devices and for receiving a geographical location data from alocal network manager.

The detecting component of the monitoring device (410) according toembodiments of the disclosure may be provided by software or firmwareexecutable on the microcontroller (412). For example, themicrocontroller (412) may be configured to detect an event such as, forexample, the monitored condition exceeding the condition threshold,receiving an instruction from the network manager to transmit sensormodule data to the network manager and receiving an instruction from theIoT platform to transmit sensor module data to the IoT platform.

The determining component of the monitoring device (410) for determiningan optimal data path to the local network manager may be provided by thesoftware or firmware executing on the microcontroller (412).Alternatively, the determining component may be provided by the first RFtransceiver (438).

The monitoring device (412) includes a sensor module (432). The sensormodule (432) may include a plurality of sensors including one or more ofa gyroscope (441), an accelerometer (442), a temperature sensor (443), abarometer (444), a humidity sensor (445), a magnetometer (446), adigital luminosity sensor (447), and a clock (448). The sensors may bedisposed in the monitoring device (412) or may be provided by anexternal sensor probe. In some embodiments of the disclosure, theexternal sensor probe may provide some sensors while the other sensorsare disposed in the monitoring device (412). Furthermore, the sensormodule (432) may include the second NAND flash memory (416) which storessensor module data received from the sensors.

In some embodiments, the external sensor probe has one or moremicro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors configured to sense oneor more conditions (or parameters) and an I2C communication bus inelectrical communication therewith. The one or more sensors and I2Ccommunication bus are disposed on a substrate. The sensor probe includesa digital storage module in which a unique probe identifier is storedand which is in electrical communication with the communication bus. Theprobe includes, a cable, a first end of which is in electricalcommunication with the communication bus and a second end of which is inelectrical communication with the monitoring device (410). The cable isconfigured to provide electrical power received from the monitoringdevice (410) to the one or more sensors, via the I2C communication bus,and to communicate data received from the one or more sensors, via thecommunication bus, to the remote monitoring unit. Such a sensor probe isdisclosed in applicants' co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/095,436, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The monitoring device (410) further includes a data communicationinterface (420). The data communication interface (420) may include acontroller module, a switching module and a data port (421). Thecontroller module is operable to monitor a status of a power line of thedata port and, if the power line has a first status, to transmit a firstcommunication mode instruction to the switching module. If the powerline has a second status, the controller module is configured totransmit a second communication mode instruction to the switchingmodule. The switching module is configured to receive a communicationmode instruction from the controller module and, if the firstcommunication mode instruction is received, to route data communicationlines corresponding to a first communication protocol to the data port.If the second communication mode instruction is received, the switchingmodule is configured to route data communication lines corresponding toa second communication protocol to the data port. Such a datacommunication interface is disclosed in applicant's co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/095,417, which is incorporated herein byreference.

Embodiments of the disclosure provide for the monitoring device (410) tobe permanently activated (i.e. permanently on). For example, themonitoring device (410) may be provided without an ON/OFF switch. Themonitoring device (410) may include micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS)sensors on-board or external to the monitoring device (e.g. provided bysensor probes). The sensors can be configured via the IoT platform, forexample, to set threshold limits of any sensor and to monitor and logthe status of each sensor on a continuous, per second basis, or anyother interval of the user's choosing. The monitoring device can alsoreceive over-the-air communications from the IoT platform, via the localnetwork manager for software code updates and the like.

Should the status of any of the sensors exceed the configured thresholdlimits defined by the configurable parameter, a detailed exception alertmessage can be transmitted back to the IoT platform via a networkmanager. The IoT platform can then forward these exception alerts byemail or SMS to selected users. After a predefined duration, or at theend of a shipment, either the user or a selected client is able toaccess the sensor module data that the monitoring device (410) loggedand recorded, and a certificate of conformity (i.e. certifying that allsensor data was within the selected threshold limits) can be output fromthe IoT platform.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the monitoring device (410) uses256-bit AES encryption to encrypt all recorded and stored sensor moduledata. The data remains encrypted throughout its transmission from themonitoring device to the IoT platform.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the monitoring device (410) mayoperate in areas where there is no local network manager. In such cases,the monitoring device (410) may be plugged into any computing device(for example, a laptop, desktop or the like) and, in response, themonitoring device (410) is configured to operate as a network managerthrough which other monitoring devices are able to communicate.Similarly, the monitoring device may be interrogated by a secondarydevice via short-range wireless communication link, such as Bluetooth.Such functionality may enable the monitoring device to act as astand-alone data logger.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram which illustrates a monitoring device(510.1) being connected to a computing device (520) and operating as anetwork manager through which other monitoring devices (510) are able tocommunicate. The monitoring device (510.1) may be connected to thecomputing device (520) via a cable (522) connected between a datacommunication interface of the monitoring device (510.1) and, forexample, a universal serial bus (USB) port of the computing device(520). When connected to the computing device (520), the monitoringdevice (510.1) may be configured to perform at least some of thefunctionality of a network manager according to embodiments of thedisclosure. The monitoring device (510.1) may use a communicationcomponent of the computing device (520), providing, for example a Wi-Fi,Ethernet or Internet connection, to communicate with the IoT platform(550) such that sensor module data of the monitoring device (510.1) andof the other upstream monitoring devices (510) may be transmitted to theIoT platform (550).

In one exemplary use case of a monitoring device (110, 410, 510), themonitoring device (110, 410, 510) may not be within range of apeer-to-peer ad hoc network during the monitoring operation (for exampleduring the transit of the monitoring device from source to destination).The monitoring device (110, 410, 510) may accordingly be configured tocontinue to monitor one or more conditions until a user is able tomanually access the recorded data off the monitoring device (110, 410,510). In such a situation, the monitoring device (110, 410, 510)functions as a data logger. All conditions such as environmental datamonitored on by the monitoring device (110, 410, 510) may be constantlylogged and recorded on, for example a second-by-second basis, and willhave to be retrieved using input and output modules of the monitoringdevice (110, 410, 510). As the monitoring device (110, 410, 510) isregularly monitoring one or more conditions, the monitoring device (110,410, 510) is capable of sensing if it has been dropped and by whatdistance, and, with the data from the gyroscope and compass, the devicewill be able to calculate its location in a building when there is nogeographical position.

In another exemplary use case, where, for example, there are no wirelesspeer-to-peer ad hoc networks throughout the transit route except fornetwork managers at the place of shipment and the final destination, themonitoring device (110, 410, 510) may operate in a second configurationmode. In the second configuration mode, the user may be able to manuallyretrieve sensor module data using the input and output modules of themonitoring device (110, 410, 510) or over a short-range communicationlink using a secondary device. Additionally, the user may be able toretrieve the sensor module data from an IoT platform once the monitoringdevice reaches the final destination (e.g. when the monitoring device iswithin range of a network manager). Printable audit-trails of sensormodule data (for example on a continuous, second-by-second basis for theentire transit) can be obtained from the IoT platform. Only if, or whenthere is a peer-to-peer network, will geographical location data beavailable to the monitoring device, however the entire transit may belogged on, for example, a second-by-second time and date basis.

In a third exemplary use case of a monitoring device (110, 410, 510),comprehensive peer-to-peer ad hoc networks and network managers may beprovided for almost all of the transit route, including fixed networksat the shipper's and receiver's premises, and mobile networks that canbe attached to delivery trucks, railroads, aircraft, ships etc., andwhereby the user is able to access and retrieve sensor module data fromthe IoT platform throughout the entire transit period. Geographicallocational information may be obtained from any fixed or mobile networkmanagers that are associated with the monitoring device (110, 410, 510),and whenever an event is detected, an alert may be transmitted to theIoT platform which may then transmit an SMS or email to the user toadvise the user of the event.

In yet another exemplary use case, the monitoring device (110, 410, 510)may be provided with one or more sensor probes, and possibly one or moreprobe hubs. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram which illustrates a monitoringdevice (610) having a probe hub (690) connected thereto. The probe hub(690) has a plurality of sensor probes (692) connected thereto. Each ofthe plurality of sensor probes (692) may be individually configured viathe IoT platform and may be placed into, affixed onto or otherwiseassociated with an object. Each sensor probe (692) may have a uniqueidentifier. The configuration illustrated in FIG. 6 may be advantageousas multiple objects may be monitored using only one monitoring device(610) and a plurality of sensor probes (692).

External sensor probes (692) (which may also be referred to as “slave”monitoring devices) may be used in applications where the monitoringdevice (610) cannot, for example, be included inside a package,especially when extreme cold conditions exist and where batteries of themonitoring device (610) may not be able to function efficiently. Anexemplary sensor probe (692) may be able to measure temperature,barometric pressure, humidity, light and the like and is disclosed,along with a probe hub (690) in Applicants' previously mentionedco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/095,436.

In yet another exemplary use case, the monitoring device (110, 410, 510,610) may additionally include a communication component and ageographical location receiving component. The communication componentmay be similar to that of the network manager and of the IoT platformand may enable the monitoring device (110, 410, 510, 610) to establish awired or wireless communication link with the IoT platform withoututilising a network manager. In such an exemplary use case, themonitoring device (110, 410, 510, 610) may accordingly be operable tofunction as a network manager to other monitoring devices and may beconfigured to establish a peer-to-peer ad hoc network with othermonitoring devices. The monitoring device (110, 410, 510, 610) maytransmit geographical locational information to other monitoring devicesin the peer-to-peer ad hoc network and may receive sensor module datafrom the other monitoring devices. Furthermore, the monitoring device(110, 410, 510, 610) may be configured to select a suitablecommunication link over which to transmit sensor module data to the IoTplatform or to a network manager.

In another exemplary use case, the monitoring device (110, 410, 510,610) may be provided with a wireless monitor which may be physicallyconnected to the monitoring device (110, 410, 510, 610). The wirelessmonitor may be connected to the monitoring device via a RS-232communication link. The monitoring device (110, 410, 510, 610) mayinclude a communication component and a geographical locationalreceiving component and may communicate with other monitoring devicesvia the wireless monitor.

A highly scalable and redundant monitoring system is described hereinwhich may include a number of monitoring devices, a number of networkmanagers a number of repeater devices and a remotely accessible IoTplatform. The monitoring devices described herein boast significantadvantages in terms of reduced energy consumption and lower operatingcosts, particularly insofar as communication via cellular or satellitecommunication networks is concerned. The monitoring devices, togetherwith the data communication interface and sensor probes provide enhancedscalability and versatility.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a computing device (700) in whichvarious aspects of the disclosure, such as the IoT platform for example,may be implemented. The computing device (700) may be suitable forstoring and executing computer program code. The various participantsand elements in the previously described system diagrams may use anysuitable number of subsystems or components of the computing device(700) to facilitate the functions described herein.

The computing device (700) may include subsystems or componentsinterconnected via a communication infrastructure (705) (for example, acommunications bus, a cross-over bar device, or a network). Thecomputing device (700) may include at least one central processor (710)and at least one memory component in the form of computer-readablemedia.

The memory components may include system memory (715), which may includeread only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). A basicinput/output system (BIOS) may be stored in ROM. System software may bestored in the system memory (715) including operating system software.

The memory components may also include secondary memory (720). Thesecondary memory (720) may include a fixed disk (721), such as a harddisk drive, and, optionally, one or more removable-storage interfaces(722) for removable-storage components (723).

The removable-storage interfaces (722) may be in the form ofremovable-storage drives (for example, magnetic tape drives, opticaldisk drives, floppy disk drives, etc.) for corresponding removablestorage-components (for example, a magnetic tape, an optical disk, afloppy disk, etc.), which may be written to and read by theremovable-storage drive.

The removable-storage interfaces (722) may also be in the form of portsor sockets for interfacing with other forms of removable-storagecomponents (723) such as a flash memory drive, external hard drive, orremovable memory chip, etc.

The computing device (700) may include an external communicationsinterface (730) for operation of the computing device (700) in anetworked environment enabling transfer of data between multiplecomputing devices (700). Data transferred via the externalcommunications interface (730) may be in the form of signals, which maybe electronic, electromagnetic, optical, radio, or other types ofsignal.

The external communications interface (730) may enable communication ofdata between the computing device (700) and other computing devicesincluding platforms and external storage facilities. Web services may beaccessible by the computing device (700) via the communicationsinterface (730).

The external communications interface (730) may also enable other formsof communication to and from the computing device (700) including, voicecommunication, near field communication, Bluetooth, etc.

The computer-readable media in the form of the various memory componentsmay provide storage of computer-executable instructions, datastructures, program modules, and other data. A computer program productmay be provided by a computer-readable medium having storedcomputer-readable program code executable by the central processor(710).

A computer program product may be provided by a non-transientcomputer-readable medium, or may be provided via a signal or othertransient means via the communications interface (730).

Interconnection via the communication infrastructure (705) allows acentral processor (710) to communicate with each subsystem or componentand to control the execution of instructions from the memory components,as well as the exchange of information between subsystems or components.

Peripherals (such as printers, scanners, cameras, or the like) andinput/output (I/O) devices (such as a mouse, touchpad, keyboard,microphone, joystick, or the like) may couple to the computing device(700) either directly or via an I/O controller (735). These componentsmay be connected to the computing device (700) by any number of meansknown in the art, such as a serial port.

One or more monitors (745) may be coupled via a display or video adapter(740) to the computing device (700).

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the disclosure has beenpresented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of thedisclosure in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. The described operations may be embodied insoftware, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.

The software components or functions described in this application maybe implemented as software code to be executed by one or more processorsusing any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++, orPerl using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. Thesoftware code may be stored as a series of instructions, or commands ona non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a random accessmemory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as ahard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as a CD-ROM. Anysuch computer-readable medium may also reside on or within a singlecomputational apparatus, and may be present on or within differentcomputational apparatuses within a system or network.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a non-transient computer-readable medium containing computerprogram code, which can be executed by a computer processor forperforming any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the disclosure be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the disclosure is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the disclosure, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile monitoring device for monitoring acondition to which an object is exposed as it moves between multiplewireless local area networks, each of which at least including one ormore mobile or fixed network managers, wherein the monitoring device isconfigured to dynamically join a network with a network manager which islocal to the monitoring device, the mobile monitoring device comprising:a sensor module for monitoring the condition and periodically producingsensor module data relating to the condition, wherein the sensor moduledata includes inertial navigation data; a first transceiver componentfor receiving network manager data from the local network manager; anassociator component for comparing the network manager data with thesensor module data and, if the network manager data equals orapproximates the sensor module data, establishing an association withthe local network manager, during which association geographicallocation data of the local network manager is included in the networkmanager data and for, if the network manager data does not approximatethe sensor module data and if an association with the local networkmanager is established, dissolving the association with the localnetwork manager; and, an inertial navigation component for, responsiveto the associator component dissolving the association, incrementallyestimating a geographical location of the monitoring device using, as aninitial set-point, the geographical location data of the local networkmanager received immediately prior to the association being dissolvedand the subsequent inertial navigation data produced by the sensormodule of the monitoring device.
 2. The monitoring device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the received network manager data further includesinertial navigation data of the local network manager, and wherein theassociator component compares at least part of the inertial navigationdata produced by the sensor module with at least part of the inertialnavigation data received from the local network manager.
 3. Themonitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein establishing theassociation indicates that the monitoring device and local networkmanager have moved in unison and are on a common platform.
 4. Themonitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring deviceis configured to remain in the network of the local associated networkmanager after dissolving the association whilst it is within wirelessrange.
 5. The monitoring device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the firsttransceiver component is configured to receive network manager data fromthe local network manager via the network, and wherein the firsttransceiver component is configured to transmit sensor module data tothe local network manager via the network.
 6. The monitoring device asclaimed in claim 5, wherein the monitoring device is configured totransmit sensor module data to the local network manager afterdissolving the association.
 7. The monitoring device as claimed in claim6, wherein the monitoring device includes a power source and wherein thesensor module is permanently activated for continual monitoring of thecondition.
 8. The monitoring device as claimed in claim 7, wherein thesensor module data is accessible for remote monitoring by a servercomputer via the local network manager.
 9. The monitoring device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is a portable mobilemonitoring device.
 10. The monitoring device as claimed in claim 1,wherein the inertial navigation data includes magnetometer, angularrate, gravitational and acceleration sensor data.
 11. The monitoringdevice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor module data furtherincludes one or more of the group of: vibration, temperature, barometricpressure, humidity, luminous intensity, and a measure of time.
 12. Themonitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring deviceis configured to receive user input from a user via a short-rangecommunication link or a keypad, and wherein the monitoring device isconfigured to output sensor module data to the user via the short-rangecommunication link or a display screen.
 13. The monitoring device asclaimed in claim 12, wherein the user input includes an instruction tooutput sensor module data, and wherein the sensor module data is outputto the user via the short-range communication link or the display screenin response to receiving the instruction.
 14. A system for monitoring acondition to which an object is exposed, the system comprising aplurality of monitoring devices as claimed in claim 1, and a pluralityof networks, wherein each one of the networks includes one or morenetwork managers, each network manager including a first transceivercomponent for transmitting network manager data to the monitoringdevices, and wherein each monitoring device is operable to dynamicallyjoin or establish a network with a network manager, being local to themonitoring device, as it moves from one local network to another.
 15. Amethod for monitoring a condition to which an object is exposed, themethod being conducted by a mobile monitoring device having a sensormodule which monitors the condition and periodically produces sensormodule data as the monitoring device moves between multiple wirelesslocal area networks, each of which at least including one or more mobileor fixed network managers, wherein the monitoring device is configuredto dynamically join a network with a network manager which is local tothe monitoring device, the method comprising: receiving sensor moduledata from the sensor module, the sensor module data including inertialnavigation data; receiving network manager data from the local networkmanager; comparing the network manager data with the sensor module data;if the network manager data equals or approximates the sensor moduledata, establishing an association with the local network manager, duringwhich association geographical location data of the local networkmanager is included in the network manager data and, if the networkmanager data does not approximate the sensor module data and if anassociation with the local network manager is established, dissolvingthe association with the local network manager; and, responsive todissolving the association, incrementally estimating a geographicallocation of the monitoring device using, as an initial set-point, thegeographical location data of the local network manager receivedimmediately prior to the association being dissolved and the subsequentinertial navigation data produced by the sensor module of the monitoringdevice.
 16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the receivednetwork manager data further includes inertial navigation data of thelocal network manager, and wherein the step of comparing the networkmanager data with the sensor module data compares at least part of theinertial navigation data produced by the sensor module with at leastpart of the inertial navigation data received from the local networkmanager.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the monitoringdevice remains in the network of the local network manager afterdissolving the association.
 18. The method as claimed in claim 17,wherein the network manager data is received from the local networkmanager via the network, and wherein the method includes transmittingsensor module data to the local network manager via the network.
 19. Themethod as claimed in claim 18, including transmitting sensor module datato the local network manager after dissolving the association.
 20. Themethod as claimed in claim 15, wherein establishing the associationindicates that the monitoring device and local network manager havemoved in unison and are on a common platform.